Measuring attention towards advertisement using the peripheral detection response task

The purpose of this study was to examine whether a measure of secondary task reaction time could predict how much participants liked particular advertisements. This study aimed to understand the possible applications of the Peripheral Detection Response Task (DRT) in marketing and advertising research. It was hypothesized that participants would direct more attention towards advertisements that featured brands that are well liked compared to advertisements that featured less liked brands and products. It was predicted that as the liking of a particular commercial increased, DRT reaction time would also increase. Participants watched nine randomly ordered television commercials while simultaneously completing the tactile DRT. Measures of advertisement evaluation were collected following each commercial. The analyses did not support the hypotheses. There were no significant relationships between DRT response times and advertisement evaluations, product category evaluations, and product category involvement ratings. However, there were trends in the hypothesized directions.